Falling Short

There was an odd article featured on the homepage of the Huffington Post today.  The headline on the homepage was -- "'Tammy' Falls Short at the Box Office."  

When you click through and read the actual article, it notes that the entire weekend for every movie was one of the slowest ever for the Fourth of July.  Yet even with that, the movie was the #1 new release of the week (landing just behind the previously-released steamrolling blockbuster of The Transformers).  And further, the movie grossed  $32 million over its opening weekend on a production cost of just $20 million.  That gross is double the #3 movie this weekend.  And its per screen average was a respectable $6,110 -- again, double the #3 movie. 

Second, though, and perhaps even more odd, the article describes its supposed failure as being despite the fact that ""Tammy" boasts one of the most bankable stars in movies — McCarthy."   In fairness to Ms. McCarthy, previous to this she has starred in only two other films -- and both of those were as co-stars.  In one, she shared billing with Sandra Bullock, and in the other, Jason Bateman.  She's certainly starting to do well in her career, but the way Hollywood works, co-starring opposite two much bigger stars does not even remotely make someone bankable -- let alone "one of the most bankable."  So, for an up-and-coming star to open a movie on her own for the first time on the slowest Fourth of July weekend for all movies, and do respectably is about the opposibe of "falling short."

Movies had a slow weekend.  Tammy did just fine.  If anything fell short, it was the article's crack analysis.